ITV - Micro Safari (All 4 Episodes) (2008)

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ITV - Micro Safari (All 4 Episodes) (2008)

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Through the magic of television, zoologist Nigel Marvin and his crew get shrunk down to a 1/4 inch to explore an alien world of mammoth insects, in hit National Geographic show Micro Safari. An average domestic garden becomes a perilous terrain, fraught with wasp attacks, skulking spiders, and bad-tempered millipedes. Will Nigel and the team make it back to their car to be re-enlarged in time? Or will they become lunch for a ravenous garden shrew? This fun documentary provides an adventure that will educate and entertain, making it perfect for the whole family. There are an estimated 8000 species in the average garden, so there’s plenty to see.

Part 1: Journey to the Bugs
What would it be like coming face to face with a spider the size of a car Or drinking honeydew directly from the bum of an aphid. In his latest wildlife adventure, intrepid zoologist Nigel Marven shrinks himself to the size of a bug, to explore the fabulously rich yet overlooked tangle of a typical suburban garden. . “Whether I was coming face-to-face with giant spiders, escaping huge hungry toads, or riding on a dragonfly’s back, the thrills came thick and fast!” Nigel Marvin

Part 2: The Making of
What’s the best way to explore the miniature wilderness of a garden? Become miniature yourself! This special show sees me and my team shrunk down to the size of bugs to get close to the tiny creatures that surround us every day. With ultra high-speed video, thermal imaging goggles and remote-controlled spy cameras, I was able to capture on film some of the amazing events taking place in the backyard jungle.

Part 3: Alligators
Nigel Marven travels to Florida to study the natural history of the American alligator. This film was made throughout 2001, one of the driest years in recent Florida history. As a result, it was a great time to see gators and study their habits. My crew captured incredible behaviour; courtship dances, fighting, cannibalism and nest construction. I managed to fulfil a dream by getting right up close to a mother gator tenderly taking her babies to the water in her mouth. At one point I donned a miniature camera on my forehead, so that we could film close-up views of the inside of a gator’s open mouth. The end result was spectacular, but I nearly lost my arm in the process, my heart still hammers when I think about that.

Part 4: Big Cats
Nigel Marven, a genial presenter who comes across like a hybrid of Steve Irwin and Russ Abbott, is very much an 'up close and personal' man and in this programme he's getting close to the big cats. He tracks them down in Africa, India and Siberia, keeping us posted all the time about how he's feeling - 'My heart's hammering,' 'I am never going to forget this,' 'It's been like a dream' We’ve all seen big cats on nature programmes before, but I wanted to see them in the flesh to reveal new insights into their behaviour. The world’s top five big cats are the ones that can roar; leopard, snow leopard, jaguar, lion and tiger. I met them all, jumping into the midst of a pack of lions to show that truly wild lions fear man. It was a scary moment, but I knew they’d scatter when they saw me, and fortunately I was right! I also tracked tigers from elephant back in India, but the high point came over the sub-zero snows of Siberia. We managed to sight a 10-foot Siberian tiger padding

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ITV - Micro Safari (All 4 Episodes) (2008)

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ITV - Micro Safari (All 4 Episodes) (2008)

Close

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ITV - Micro Safari (All 4 Episodes) (2008)

Close

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ITV - Micro Safari (All 4 Episodes) (2008)

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